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Commercial Assessment

A Commercial Assessment is full buy-side commercial diligence on a B2B SaaS target, run with the seller's cooperation. It answers whether the growth potential is real, whether the commercial engine works without the founder, what the market says when nobody is preparing the answer, and how the company should be selling instead. It runs in four to eight weeks and ends in a verdict, an evidence appendix and the price implications of both.

Runs with seller cooperation. Primary interviews and live sales call observation are what separate this from a Commercial Thesis Review.

What’s involved

  1. Revenue quality rebuilt from billing data rather than accepted from the deck. Net revenue retention against logo retention, cohort behavior, concentration, discount discipline, and what a renewal actually costs to earn.
  2. The reachable market for this product at this price point through this motion, and where growth would have to come from. Not the top-down slide.
  3. Primary interviews, weighted toward the accounts nobody prepared: churned customers, lost deals, ex-sales staff and channel partners, alongside current customers.
  4. Live sales calls observed across discovery, demo and negotiation, with the seller’s agreement. Whether the rep qualifies or takes any meeting offered. Whether value is articulated or features are demonstrated. Who has to be on the call for it to close.
  5. A capability read on the commercial team, so you know who sells, who does not, and why.
  6. The verdict, the conditions that would make the price work, the evidence appendix behind both, and what you would have to change to earn the upside.

Who this is for

  • You are in or approaching exclusivity on a B2B SaaS target and the commercial case is the deciding question.
  • Your investment committee wants an independent read on a category the deal team does not operate in.
  • The financial and legal workstreams are covered and nobody is testing whether the thing still sells.
  • The seller’s story is plausible, internally consistent and entirely untested by anyone without a stake in the outcome.
  • You intend to operate the company afterwards, not only to hold it, so you need the upside sized and sequenced rather than the risks listed.

What it costs

Fee
EUR 55,000 to 85,000
Duration
4 to 8 weeks

Fixed fee, fixed timeline, agreed before work starts. Fees are never contingent on a transaction closing, because the entire value of this work is that it has no stake in the answer. Scope is set on a first call. Ranges reflect company size, geographies and interview volume.

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